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Pricing Dead Halt?


skwak

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We are on the Adventure of the Seas in 20+ days out of Bayonne.  We have been watching the pricing on drink packages and excursions change almost daily and at times by a large percentage.

We decided about a week ago that, darn it, let's just book the premium drink package for my wife and me.  I swear that ever since we decided the darn thing has been steady as a rock at $52 per day plus gratuity.  For months it changed all the time between $49 and $52.  Now, we are not seeing any changes (or any changes in other packages).  Is it standard RCCL practice to freeze the discounted package prices as the cruise draws near?

 

Is anyone else seeing this as well?

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This close to the date, unless there happens to be a pop-up sale, it'll probably stay where it is. 

One thing to note, if you go ahead and book it at the current rate ahead of the cruise and you see it drop again ahead of your sailing (you can book this up to 3 days before you sail), you can cancel your current Drink Package and re-book it at the better rate. 

You can at least guarantee that whatever you see on the cruise planner will be a better rate than what you get once you board. 

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4 minutes ago, KLA said:

This close to the date, unless there happens to be a pop-up sale, it'll probably stay where it is. 

One thing to note, if you go ahead and book it at the current rate ahead of the cruise and you see it drop again ahead of your sailing (you can book this up to 3 days before you sail), you can cancel your current Drink Package and re-book it at the better rate. 

You can at least guarantee that whatever you see on the cruise planner will be a better rate than what you get once you board. 

Thanks.  Completely annoying but it is what it is.  It burns my bottom to give them another $48 for the two of us.  I am really re-thinking if the drink package is such a good deal for us.  8 nights is $982 is a ton of money for the flexibility to drink as we see fit.  At $10 a drink that is nearly 100 drinks!

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I will say, while the price tag on it sucks, it's really nice to have the flexibility to try new drinks and not be running a constant bar tab in your mind as you go through the cruise. It definitely gives the cruise more of an all inclusive feel. My husband and I generally purchase the drink package. 

If you look at it this way, a specialty coffee with breakfast and/or a mimosa, a couple frosty drinks poolside, a cocktail or two before dinner, and a glass of wine or two really add up over time. 

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57 minutes ago, skwak said:

Thanks.  Completely annoying but it is what it is.  It burns my bottom to give them another $48 for the two of us.  I am really re-thinking if the drink package is such a good deal for us.  8 nights is $982 is a ton of money for the flexibility to drink as we see fit.  At $10 a drink that is nearly 100 drinks!

its not $10 a drink.. it has gone up to $13 plus tip which makes it $14 and change.. remember when you get the package you already paid the gratuity where as when you pay as you go you didn't... so I did the math its actually 70 drinks for 8 days which is 35 drinks per person which comes out to 4 drinks per day

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1 hour ago, AGSLC5 said:

its not $10 a drink.. it has gone up to $13 plus tip which makes it $14 and change.. remember when you get the package you already paid the gratuity where as when you pay as you go you didn't... so I did the math its actually 70 drinks for 8 days which is 35 drinks per person which comes out to 4 drinks per day

I don't drink alcohol anymore, but get the refreshment pkg for myself. I know back in the day hitting the break even point of 4, or even 7 drinks a day, would not have been hard. (That's why I don't drink anymore?) If you include as @monctonguy mentioned, bottled water, juice, cappuccinos, etc into it, that number of alcoholic drinks you need to consume to break even drops even more. I've as others have found that part of the "benefit" of the pkg is that it's prepaid like other cruise expenses and you don't need to think about it again. 

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4 minutes ago, FManke said:

I don't drink alcohol anymore, but get the refreshment pkg for myself. I know back in the day hitting the break even point of 4, or even 7 drinks a day, would not have been hard. (That's why I don't drink anymore?) If you include as @monctonguy mentioned, bottled water, juice, cappuccinos, etc into it, that number of alcoholic drinks you need to consume to break even drops even more. I've as others have found that part of the "benefit" of the pkg is that it's prepaid like other cruise expenses and you don't need to think about it again. 

Agreed.. People don't realize how easy it is to consume 4 drinks alcohol or non alcohol.. My dad went on a cruise with me and his girlfriend and I told him buy the package and he didn't listen and at the end of the cruise he had a huge bill.. Lesson learned he now always gets the package.. 

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Thanks everyone!  It seems like the consensus is spend the $$$ upfront and don't look back.  You are a very persuasive group.  ?

Funny thing is that I went on to book tonight and after a week of no price movement the price had dropped to $49 per day.  So $925 for my dear wife and me for 8 nights.

Thanks for all the input!

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9 hours ago, skwak said:

Thanks everyone!  It seems like the consensus is spend the $$$ upfront and don't look back.  You are a very persuasive group.  ?

Funny thing is that I went on to book tonight and after a week of no price movement the price had dropped to $49 per day.  So $925 for my dear wife and me for 8 nights.

Thanks for all the input!

HAHA! Glad to hear you got a bit of a break there. Have a great cruise! 

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10 hours ago, skwak said:

  It seems like the consensus is spend the $$$ upfront and don't look back.  You are a very persuasive group.  ?

 

I think this is true with all aspects of cruising and beyond. Buy it if you feel it's a good price. Most, if not all of us, are chasing the "get it for the lowest price" game.  Take it from me. It can be exhausting and addictive. Be glad you got a little break and start thinking about your awesome cruise. At some point you have to just pull the trigger and don't look back.

Happy cruising!

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We have noticed there are many pre-cruise sales online, with discounts of varying amounts depending upon what you purchase.   I don't know the pattern - it seems somewhat random.  We don't book excursions unless they are on sale. We avoid the drink packages because you need to drink too much for them to pay off.  But the coffee card is worth it (15 hand-made coffee drinks at the ship's coffee shop).  We avoid getting anything on the ship, as prices are usually higher.  We use AAA as our travel agent, and they usually provide some perks that mitigate the need to buy other stuff, like specialty dining.  The main thing is to know what you actually want on vacation, not necessarily what other people are doing or buying...

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On 6/5/2019 at 8:13 AM, monctonguy said:

that's only 50 drinks each...over 7 days?..so like 7 "drinks" a day is not hard to do....when your talking beer, wine, hard stuff...plus the extras you get like the bottled water, soft drinks etc....

 

 

Agreed. Not hard to do. On our last cruise, 7 night, checked our folio on debarkation morning, we had 140 drink charges. Yes, some were waters. But it's something you don't think about when there's a bar everywhere.

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My husband and I always get the deluxe.  The way we look at it is that we would never get anything less than the refreshment, since that also includes water bottles.  For our sail date we got the deluxe at 47, the refreshment was 21.  That meant to make up the difference we had to get 2 $13 drinks per day to break even if we did refreshment and out of pocket for alcohol.   Honestly it isn't hard to do, especially on my upcoming cruise since we have 4 sea days in total.  1 cocktail at the pool, 1 glass of wine at dinner, a cappuccino and amaretto side with dessert,  and a cocktail at the shows at night means I am making $$$.

Plus, remember if you are going to Coco Cay the beverage package works there.

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